Grouse Mountain with the cousins

Joanne, Philip, Frances and Pippa are back in town for the holidays and today we took the kids to the Peak of Christmas at the top of Grouse Mountain. It's great time to go with the kids at this age, because both Maddy and Ethan were free!

I won't write much, but it was great to see the kids playing together in the snow. Highlights were watching them slide down the hill on their butts, seeing Vixen and Dancer the reindeer, the smile on Ethan face as he rolled around in the snow and the gorgeous view we had of Vancouver when the clouds cleared.

Hard to tell whether that was Vixen or Dancer, but it was still cool to see a real reindeer.

Waiting for the sleigh ride.

Frances and Pippa hamming it up at the bottom of the hill.

A group shot after lunch. Wow! Everyone is looking.

Can't beat that view.

A very happy boy. (Even in a purple snowsuit!)

Pippa skating on the outdoor rink with Philip in the background.

Ethan, 15 months

Wow, fifteen months already and I haven't even had time to post the pictures for his 14 months update. We've been super busy around here lately and now with Josh having to work overtime (milestone coming) I doubt that the pictures will come anytime soon. I will get them up one of these days as I see this blog as a way to keep the moments for Maddy and Ethan to see later on.

The month has made a huge difference with walking. Much more walking than falling these days and he's beginning to add a little speed. I know that I was eager to get to this walking stage, but now that the speed stage is upon us, I'm quite happy to hold that off as long as I can. I get the real feeling that I won't be able to keep up with him once he's off and running. He doesn't like to hold your hand when he's walking so for now he still has to stay in the stroller for as long as possible when we're at the mall.

Ethan definitely knows what he wants and it's pretty hard to distract him once he's got his mind set on something. For the most part, Maddy is pretty good about sharing with him and we try really hard to make sure that they each get 'five minutes' to play with a coveted toy before having to hand it over. (Eh-hem, some 'five minutes' go by quite quickly around here). At times he's beginning to throw a little tantrum when he wants something that we cannot give him. We've been trying hard not to send him the message that if he cries he can get what he wants, but man is it ever tempting when you have a screaming, wailing toddler on your hands.

He's so desperate when he cries for something. Poor little guy.

He's even got Mama's bottom pouty lip. So cute!

Before we set up the Christmas tree, I wondered if we should even bother because I thought Ethan would be all over it. Turns out that he loves the tree and really understands that he cannot touch it. He's pretty good about listening when he's not allowed to touch something as long as we are firm about it right from the start. It's so cute to see him walk over to the tree, lean in and give it a kiss. He loves to see it when we turn on the lights and when we first put it up, he'd point to it and laugh.

We're potty training!! Lucy at daycare has been taking him to the potty about every hour and had quite a bit of success, so I figured I might as well try when we are at home. Ethan's been doing really well and in the last couple of days, he's pointed in the general direction of the potty and once we put him on, he's peed. We mostly spend the time after his nap until bedtime in dai fu (underwear in Chinese) and he's doing really well. I even tried pull ups while at Strong Start a couple of times. He's peed once, but most of the time he loves to shove toilet paper in between his legs. The yuck factor of playing that game in a public washroom is giving me second thoughts about pottying in public until he can do his business standing up.

Finally, in the last month Ethan has really learned to communicate his wants to us. He doesn't really have many words, but he does do a lot of gesturing and pointing and is able to get his point across. He's also learned to shake his head to say no and that helps.

***Be sure to scroll down, I've added some new posts and pictures to older posts.***

21 questions

I came across this list on some message boards and I thought I'd give it a try. I think the idea is that you ask these questions and see how the answers change over time? Well I'm not sure, but that's how I'm going to use them.

So here's our first try with Maddy:

1. What is something mommy always says to you? "Germs are yucky"

2. What makes you happy? "Mama"

3. What makes you sad? "Umm...Ethan!" (Big smile on her face)

4. What makes you laugh? "Papa"

5. How old are you? "Free!"

6. How old is Mommy? "Four!"

7. How old is Daddy? "Five!"

8. What is your favorite thing to do? "Ummm go to preschool"

9. Who is your best friend? "Rachel"

10. What do you want to be when you grow up? "Mama and Papas" "Fat cat in the hat"

11. What are you really good at? "Jumping up and down"

12. What are you not very good at? "Not jumping up and down"

13. What did you do today? "Go on the carousel ride"

14. What is your favorite food? "Sushi"

15. What is your favorite song? "Twinkle Twinkle little star"

16. What do you want for (holiday or birthday) this year? "Presents"

17. What is your favorite animal? "Tigers...ducks"

18. What is love? "Mama is"

19. What does mommy/daddy do for work? "Make a picture" (Mommy) "Make pictures!" (Daddy)

20. Where do you live? "At home!...in Canada"

21. Where is your favorite place to go? "Canada!"

Some Christmas Festivities

Here are some pictures of what we've been up to lately. Lots of different Christmas activities, great memories but too many to write about. Sorry for my laziness, I blame the hectic holiday season.

One sure fire way to get them to stay is to give food.

Amazing that we could all the kids in one shot. A play date at our house.

Maddy's preschool concert.
She looked on the verge of tears at times, but held it together. Later so quietly told me "I was a little scared mama".
You were wonderful, Maddy and we were so proud.

We had fun at the Winter Wonderland program put on by Parks and Rec. Here is Ethan making a craft.


Here we are at the Bright Nights display in Stanley Park. Notice I didn't say the Christmas Train Ride.
The next train available was 9pm and we got there at 4:45pm!

We still had fun seeing the displays and the weather wasn't as cold as last year. Maybe that's why everyone else was out there too.

Snow day

Very late, I know. The snow is long gone, the shovel, salt and sled are back in the garage, but I couldn't resist posting these pictures. I guess in Vancouver snow doesn't happen very often, so when it does, we can't resist the photo opt.

Ethan didn't care too much for it. That may have been due to the fact that his snow pants were a wee bit on the tight side and so he could barely move. He had also just learned to walk and learning to walk all over again in snow pants was too much for him. He's just fall down and hang out there until we rescued him.

Please stop taking pictures and get me up!

Maddy on the other hand LOVED the snow. I ran out in the afternoon to pick up a sled and she and I went sledding on the hill at the park. By the afternoon, the snow was pretty sparse but she didn't mind at all. She was a great trooper and climbed back up the hill each time. I also showed her how to make a snow angel. It was quite funny when she went to try one herself. She stood there, just closed her eyes and leaned backwards straight as a board until she hit the ground. I was worried that she was going to her hurt herself, but she seemed fine. Her scrunched up face, waiting for impact, makes me laugh every time I think about it.

I just love this one of Ethan trying out the new shovel.

Happy belated snow day everyone!

Ethan 14 months

The most exciting news to report this month is that Ethan is walking!! Yay! He took his first few tentative steps last weekend and one week later he's beginning to prefer it to walking. It's so great that he's walking now. It's fun to see Ethan and Maddy play together and Ethan being able to keep up with Jeh-Jeh.

This month was definitely a challenge in the sleep department. Ethan went through a phase where he'd throw his binkie out of the crib and without his binkie he'd have an even harder time trying to fall asleep. After about a week of trying to go in and firmly tell him 'no' and replacing the binkie, I finally decided to just sew the binkie to his sleep sack. Worked like a charm. Just after the binkie debacle, came the time change. I was not looking forward to this one because we're just getting to the point of stretching Ethan all the way to 1:00pm for his one nap. If we get in the car, then it's lights out even as early as 10am (then it has to be a two shorter nap day). Anyway, he did well for the most part. We have a great video of Ethan trying to stay awake long enough to eat. I'll try and post it later.

Ethan still does not have many words. He does say Mama and Dada but it doesn't always mean that he want Josh or myself. I get the feeling that he calls Jeh-Jeh "Bah Bah", but again I'm not sure. Though he doesn't have words for things yet, his comprehension is definitely there. He can no longer hide his naughtiness with "I'm too young to understand". I believe that he also knows this, because whenever I tell him that he's not allowed to do something and that he should know better, he cries and pouts. He's quite dramatic and his pout/cry is soooo cute. I have to remember to stand my ground and not give in.

Another great development in the last month is that he gives the best kisses. Before this last month, his kiss was just leaning in towards your face with his mouth open. Usually ending up with a wet, slobbery kiss. He now gets that you close your mouth and make a noise. I love the kisses. He also loves to blow kisses and usually that's what he does when we tell him to say goodbye. In the morning, he loves to give Jeh-Jeh kisses as he's so happy to see her again.

Ethan's favourite things:
Activities at Strong Start- he LOVES the sand table. He's way better at not eating the sand. He also loves this magnetic board with homemade magnets made from juice can lids. Ethan isn't one to sit still at the carpet time, but every single time the felt board comes out, he'll come crawling back to my lap and watch intently.

Food- Dhal. He'll gobble this up faster than we can spoon it into him. He had chili today for the first time and that was a hit too. By accident he had a jalepeano (sp?) pepper from the bread. NOT A HIT!! Poor guy.

Things to do at home- he loves to follow Jeh-Jeh into the bedrooms and make a mess. Not sure who starts it, but Maddy is sure to tell me that Ethan did it! He likes to put little objects into containers and could entertain himself for quite a while doing this. Another one of his favourite games is to stuff and ball or stuffed animal up his shirt and walk around the house. The other days he did this as he was pushing the stroller around. He was me 1.5 years ago!! It was hilarious to see him bend down and kiss the doll every once in a while.

Books- not sure that Ethan is so into books yet. He does like the books with the furry/textured parts. "That's Not My Lion..." from Usbourne books is one he likes.

Fruit- Grapes, grapes and more grapes. He's yet to get tired of them. He really eats all fruit without any problem, but with grapes even if he's full, he'll get a few stuffed in there.


Sorry, we've been busy around here and so the pictures are not yet downloaded off the camera. I'll update later with pictures.

Halloween

It's just gets better and better. This year was really fun because we had two days to fit in all the Halloween activities. Maddy has been so excited about Halloween that she even started talking to two firemen at Costco, telling them what she was going to be.

On Saturday, we decided to take the afternoon to carve the pumpkins. All week long, Maddy told me how she was going to clean the guts and seeds out of 'her pumpkin'. I was kind of excited to hear this because in the last two years she has wanted nothing to do with the stuff. Once she saw the inside, her old self was back and she wanted nothing to do with it. She did help me roast the seeds and they were really tasty.

Look at the stress in her face as she realizes what she has to touch. You're so cute Maddy!! xoxo

Checking on the pumpkin seeds in the oven.

This year Ethan was able to participate (well, more like watch), but he was just so tickled by the pumpkins and the fact that we carved them. When the pumpkins first came home, he was so cute and would sit there hugging and kissing them. Once the bat and the ghost were carved in, he just LOVED them.

Watching Papa carve the ghost.

Feel the 'pumpkin love'.

"Jeh Jeh, if you open the lids, I'll shove as many crayons in as I can"

On Sunday we went to the Brown-John's for a halloween party. It was so much fun to see all the kids dressed up. There were all kinds of fruit, a handful of fairies/ballerinas/butterflies, a few animals and even a variety of junk food (a hot dog and a hamburger). It was so cute to see the kids walk around in the costumes and even cute to see the looks on their faces. It was as if they were saying, "Why in the world am I dressed like this?"

Maddy dressed as a fairy for the party at the Brown-John's

Ethan was a little sad at first in his costume. Just woke from a nap and then we put him in this monkey suit. He didn't quite get it yet.

When we got home the kids were fresh from a nap in the car, so we were free to stay up enjoy the rest of the evening. This year Maddy helped me make our "Mummy" weiner-wraps and after dinner, it was on to the main event. For some reason the neighbourhood was very quiet this year. Compared to the 4 houses we went to last year, Maddy did extremely well. We walked all the way down the block and back up the other side. She had a great time and Ethan was enjoying all the attention he got from the people handing out candy. We made it home well before bedtime and both kids went down for bed without any problems. Yay for a great night!!

Maddy helping me make our traditional mummies

While Maddy and I made mummies, Josh made one himself.

Our yummy "Mummy" dinner.

One last photo before heading out for trick or treating.

Ethan loved being out and going door to door.

At the end of a great night. "Happy Halloween!!"

Hope everyone had a great Halloween. We've already got our costumes planned for next year, but you'll have to stay tuned.

Happy 3rd Birthday Maddy!

Can you believe it? Maddy has graduated from toddler to preschooler. Wow! It sure has flown by. I'm really loving this stage and it's sad to think that in two years she'll be heading off to school for full days. Must hang on to every moment we can right now. Here's an update of what life is like for our dear, sweet girl:

Preschool is getting much better. There are days where she says that she really wants to go to preschool. I think it helped a lot when I pointed out that many of the other kids were nervous about going too. There are still some kids who spend most of the time in tears and so I think it helps her feel a little more confident. Every time I go to pick her up, there are huge smiles and she seems to be fine at the carpet. One funny story that I want to remember is that once she told us, "This is what we do before snack time. We fold our hands, like this... and then we say 'Raymen'." (If this doesn't make sense, perhaps it will help to know that it is a Christian preschool and so they say grace before eating!) :)

At home Maddy has dropped her nap. I still feel that she could use the afternoon nap and if I put her bed at her usual time, she'd probably sleep for a bit. The problem is that Ethan now naps earlier and so it turns out that just as he's getting up from his nap, she would go down. That kind of makes us 'nap prisoners'. Instead we don't nap her and have her go to bed early. The plus side to this is that she goes to bed earlier and thus wakes earlier (on the old schedule she tends to sleep in, making it hard to get out the door in time for school). The downside, she's a tad on the grumpy side by dinner time. Nothing too bad, just a lot of tears. I'm hoping her body will just get used to it.

Maddy and I usually do some sort of craft or coloring while Ethan is napping. It's great because the girl loves to do crafts and the house is nice and quiet for Ethan to sleep. I also love to do crafts and I can't wait to do some card making/scrapbooking with her.

In the evenings we spend our potty time learning the letter names and sounds. She's been doing really well and we just finished all the capital letters along with their sounds. Next, we'll move on to how to write the letters. She's really proud of herself and now she spends a lot of time pointing out different letters she sees in everyday life. After her bath, we've been doing 'schoolwork'. We desparately needed to separate the kids closer to bedtime. We found that after playing altogether in the playroom, Ethan would be too riled and wound up and not go down for bed. So in an effort to separate them and keep things calm, I've started working with Maddy at the kitchen table. So far, it's been great. We've started numbers, tracing, patterning and general coloring skills. I bought a portfolio style notepad and kept everything in order. I can see a small improvement already and she is so proud of her 'school work book'. Let's hope this love of learning will continue to grow.

At home we've been concentrating on listening skills. Her preschool really asks the kids to make eye contact with adults when they are spoken to and so we're trying to do the same at home. The bigger one we're working on is 'listening the first time'. Lately Maddy has been stalling and making excuses when asked to do simple things. Often it's, "I'm just (fill in the stalling tactic here)." Or if she's taken something away from Ethan, she'll play and play until she's done with it, and then claim that she did listen and give it back. So the there's a lot of, "Maddy, how many times should mama have to ask you to _______." and "Listening means doing it the first time I ask you". We'll have to see how it goes.

Maddy's Birthday Party

In the past, we've always had 'family only' parties to celebrate her birthday. This year, we decided to have a larger party and invite some of her friends over. Since Maddy has been really interested in pretend play and dress up, we thought a dress up party with doctors, nurses, police and fire fighters would be fun. I bought tensor bandages and band-aids for the kids to play with and envisioned the adults sitting around while the kids dressed up and tended to our wounds. Things don't always work out the way you plan them because no one really wanted to put the costumes on and were a little too young to wrap the tensor bandages. They did however have a great time peeling all the band-aids and sticking them on me!

The band-aids kept the girls busy for quite a while!

Maddy asked for a ladybug cake and thank goodness for the internet. You can basically find step by step instructions on YouTube and I'm happy with the way it turned out. The best was seeing Maddy's face light up when we showed her the cake the morning of her party. Priceless.

This was taken before the party, just after we showed her the cake. Yes, she was man-handling the cake!

It's been well over a week since her party and she still talks about how I forgot to light the candle before everyone started singing Happy Birthday to her. It's funny the kinds of details they remember! After the guests left, Maddy got to open her presents and it was especially nice to see her let Ethan play with them as well. They both had a great time.



Happy birthday Maddy. We love you with all our hearts.
xoxo love Mama, Papa and Ethan

Ethan 13 months

The month has gone by so quickly and here is, time to write another update on Ethan's latest developments.

Though he is not walking just yet, we are definitely close. Ethan has started to let go of support while standing and can stay standing for about 5 sec. That's usually when he realizes that he's not hanging on to anything and promptly sits back down. We can see that his legs are stronger and perhaps walking won't be too far away. He loves to walk around holding our hands and can slowly walk while holding just one hand.

Not much has changed in the food department. He pretty much eats whatever we are eating, but the way that he eats is changing. The first is that he wants to feed himself. We usually let him, closer to the end of the meal so that we can make sure that he eats enough and there's less mess. He loves to eat and he's surprised us by being able to hold and eat things like a sandwich on his own. We are still working on slowing down the process so he doesn't cram the entire piece in his mouth at once.

I know that the worse is yet to come, but the fights over toys are becoming more and more heated. Mostly because we are beginning to make sure that if Maddy was playing with something first, she gets her time. When he was younger, we used to tell Maddy to just let him quickly play with it because he'd lose interest after a couple of seconds. Now that he's older, it's important that he learns to wait his turn. Needless to say, he's not impressed.

This last month has been mainly focused on dropping down to one nap. It was rough for a little while because the time that he needed to go down was also the time that I had to go and pick Maddy up from Preschool. For a while we were lucky that he could fall asleep in the car, transfer to the Ergo to pick Maddy up, transfer back in the car and later into his crib for the rest of the nap. We are now at the point where he needs to go down at 1pm. That gives us plenty of time to get Maddy, come home and have lunch before he goes down. The only trick is making sure that he doesn't fall asleep in the car. So if you see a red car, heading up Patterson with the windows down and blaring kiddie songs on the stereo, that's probably me.

He loves to roll around in the bark mulch and put it in his mouth.

Climbing the stairs to the slides. I think he's just happy to finally be out of the Ergo.

Pumpkin Patch

So the pictures pretty much speak for themselves. We had a beautiful day and the farm was surprisingly quiet. It was great to get together with the Browns and Brown-Johns on our annual trip the pumpkin patch. It was fun to see how much has changed for all of us in just one year.

Just a fun story that I want to remember for Maddy's sake. Since coming home from the farm, Maddy has been treating the little pumpkin she got like her own baby. It's hilarious to watch her carry it around the house, cuddle it on the couch and tell it that 'everything will be ok, you don't have to worry'. The funniest is when she takes a baby bottle and turns it upside down over the pumpkin's stem and claim that she is feeding the baby. You crack us up, Maddy!! We love you.